Online investigation of the current UK Riots reveals that the riots have been part seeded by immigrant concentration and unemployment; but more so by youth underclass reacting to the UK's conservative government's austerity cuts in public funding in response to the GFC failures, which themselves are perceived by many people to have been caused by the corporate sector - banks, stock market, corporates, the rich, the government, the police. Hence the riot targets have been corporates, the perceived 'haves' (business owners, McDonald's, commercial retailers displaying spoils of wealth). Cameron's arrogant Tory image must be reopening memories of Thatcherism. Cameron was holidaying in Tuscany at the time thanks very much - so his forced return must have had some sense of win by the mobs.

England's disenfranchised urban youth have had this sentiment played on by various radical, extreme Left and anarchist movements. There has been recent history of violence with comparable modus operandi. All it has taken is idle youth over a hot summer and a trigger - the police shooting of a young black man, Mark Duggan.

See messages on the following UK websites. Some of these web sites are quite scary in what they are advocating...

But when you listen to the British media, they seem to not have a clue about any real cause behind these riots. They just naively attribute the rioting to youths spontaneously reacting to a police shooting of a man with a gun in Tottenham, and otherwise out for a bit of fun over the hot August summer break. Simultaneous riots in multiple urban centres around England strung out over four days. Yeah right! These riots are clearly co-ordinated, but their perpetuation reveals broader and deeper anti-government sentiment . Philadelphia in the US has also experienced rioting over the same weekend. "Police are blaming riots and looting in London and other United Kingdom cities on flash mobs organized with social media like Twitter. Incidents in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights join disturbances such as one in Philadelphia last Sunday. [Read More].

Clearly, the social media organisations, Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger, used by the mobs to incite violence, looting and vandalism; need to be held partially responsible just as Murdock's print media have been recently held legally to account for unethical behaviour.

The pertinent social question is do the UK riots have common causes to those recently in Greece?

Anyone kindly giving the above listed lot the benefit of the doubt about their propensity for violence, search Google, type 'anarchist violence' and select Googles images option, then double click on any image result.In Tottenham last weekend, McDonald's was one of the first targets for arson

Anarchists attack London last April

'If a copper has to die to get our point across then so be it,' an anarchist known as Seth said. 'I'm happy if the filth get sent crashing to the floor and don't get up - then we've had a good day out.'

Comments

Great Britain and other parts of the world are experiencing unrest at a time of global economic uncertainty and stock market volatility. Added to this, Labour encouraged mass immigration to build up their demographic - and voting base!
In late June, half the public schools in Britain where closed by a massive protest over public pensions cuts, including three major teachers' unions, customs and immigration officers, and air traffic controllers. Some 750,000 people took part in the protest. Mass immigration — without any debate — has stretched schools and other social structures to breaking point and saturated the jobs market with foreign workers.

There are only so many people you can afford to educate and afford to build schools for.
And if people live in cities in densely populated areas where moral values aren't homogenious and socially cohesive, it means lack of integration.
The discussion of immigration is always banned. It's too "racist"!
Multiculturalism and liberal immigration policies have failed the citizens of the UK. High density living, combined with "diversity", destruction of social support networks, and poverty, and are lethal combination.

Tigerquoll,
I looked at the anarchy website but could not see what you were referring to. Quick glance revealed what I expected - that they are 'against hooliganism'. Anarchists are generally non-violent. Australian anarchist spokesperson, Joe Toscano, is a very able politician who speaks eloquently against violent agitators, warning that they are usually agent provocateurs from government and police. Please be more specific if there is material there which is scary. If there are anarchists advocating violence, I would suggest that they are not real anarchists and that sites are false sites. Governments have falsely stigmatised the term 'anarchism' as violent.

All anarchism is really is relocalism - self government at a local level. Democracy. Direct representation. That kind of thing.
It was demonised during the 19th century because anarchists tried to stop the steamrolling of local populations' rights by industrial nationalism.

It seems to me that British PM Cameron's comments- re discipline in homes and schools and welfare that does not encourage idleness -were not perceptive or helpful. The "authorities" need to ask the question "why?" Normal healthy people under tolerable circumstances do not suddenly become wild, destructive and violent
This is a situation that would benefit from some sort of inquiry. It seems obvious that an underclass will strike out given the right ignition point. The social media facilitate organization. Racial and ethnic differences will make it more likely that tribes of young people will organize along these lines as well.
What are the factors which have set this off? All the people involved can't be criminal, insane or both.
This is important for other countries to know and understand as well, especially in cities which are growing towards the population size of London.

The police shot Mark Duggan, a black man from Tottenham on 4th August. The family want justice and want to know what happened. He, or another passenger in his car, shot at the police. The police then shot Mark Duggan dead.

The official reaction was the police weren't available for comment. The police hushed it all up. This is causing racial tension between locals and the police. A man was killed and the family found out from the media apparently and no senior officer would talk to them so they turned to violence. Young people in London are angry that provisions and services have been taken away, which has left them feeling abandoned, disillusioned and without futures. It is the unmasking of poverty and racist trend in a so called 'first world' country!

In fact, I would suggest that the actual targets are not the corporates, but smaller businesses and poorer people.

Contrary to an angle put by some "left" commentators, these riots seem far more likely to help the wealthy by further breaking down what little cohesion now still remains in those parts of Britain in which the riots have occurred. It may well create a climate in which it may be easier for the UK government to take away the democratic rights of those who are now speaking out for truth, democracy and social justice, in particular, against the UK Government's current war against Libya.

Whilst the Global Research article London burns; Tripoli calm of 9 August makes some good points about the hypocrisy of those defending the arming of 'rebels' in Libya whilst condemning the actions of the UK's own 'rebels', the title of that article seems to imply that the eruption of the riots, by tying up the hands of the war-making UK Government, may lessen the plight of the Libyans, when in the longer term, the further harm done to community cohesion in the UK is more likely to actually make it easier for the UK Government to ignore the democratic wishes of UK residents including those opposed to its war against Libya.

The looting, thievery and lawlessness that (UK Prime Minister) Cameron so condemns is but the reflection at the street level of British society of what is taking place on a much greater scale at the upper echelons of government and the economy.

What the thieving rioters are now doing in some cities of the UK (and, for that matter, in the 'rebel' controlled areas of Libya) is no different to what the wealthy elite of the UK has been doing to the UK as a whole for decades, Also, it differs little to what the wealthy elites of Australia and the US and the Australia have been doing to their respective countries for decades:

Despite the appearance of pinstripe suits and well-groomed accents, we can, if we are honest, see decades of looting and thievery of economic and financial resources by corporate elites aided and abetted by Labour and Conservative governments. The taxpayer bailout of corrupt banks initiated by Labour PM Gordon Brown and now overseen by Cameron, paid for in large part by austerity in public spending cuts, is but the latest manifestation of official robbing of the majority to swell the already outrageous wealth of the ruling elite class.

Cameron and his gang of plumy-accented thugs are gunning for $150 billion in public spending cuts to pay for the criminal enterprise known as British banking. This is racketeering that a street gang in London's east end can only marvel at... and indeed, in a very real way, only emulate.

Combined with that looting by the elite we see the total lawlessness and criminality of British governments who have worked hand in glove with other criminal governments to launch wars of aggression (Nuremburg standard war crimes) in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya, resulting in the deaths of over one million civilians. Where is individual responsibility for that mass murder and destruction Mr Cameron?

According to CNN, Libya, is currently 'revelling' at the news of the riots in the United Kingdom:

... turning the tables, after enduring sustained criticism from the West, it was authoritarian regimes such as Iran and Libya that delighted in mocking Britain over riots that have engulfed its major cities.

Libya, which has endured sustained criticism for alleged violations of the human rights of opponents since March is, evidently now able to be just as critical of the United Kingdom for its handling of the riots.

So, according to CNN, The tables have truly turned.

Except, ...

Has Libya only endured 'sustained criticism'?

What about the six month aerial bombing campaign in which hospitals, water pipelines as well as military installations have been attacked? What about the arming of the Transitional National Council 'rebels' by the US, NATO, Qatar, Saudi Arabia etc.? What about the seizure of financial assets and oil tankers end expulsion of its diplomats from a number of countries?

If the tables had truly turned then logically, the UK would have to be under sustained aerial bombardment from the Libyan Air Force and the rioters in the United Kingdom would be firing at the police with Libyan-supplied AK47s and rocket launchers.

The bullet that was shot and lodged in a police radio (do they have those now??) was a Metropolitan Police issued bullet. Duggan was apparently shot as he and his friend were being held to the ground by several policemen. This is usually termed 'arbitrary execution' - and if it was, it is of the utmost seriousness. Will we ever know the 'truth'? Hope so, but fat chance.

Personal note. I lived in Brixton with my family for about three years in the early 70s. I quite enjoyed it as I happen to like the mixed racial environment and the reggae-disco pubs (not many white people came to these, though. I went with one or two black or double friends. Can't really see why others didn't go. I always had a good friendly time...) However, even at that time young black people (esp. men) complained of being selectively harassed by police officers from Brixton Police Station. As a 'hippy' with long hair and 'strange' clothes, I would have thought that I would be just as likely to come in for a little police attention (all manner of 'drugs' being pretty easily available at the time), but was totally ignored by the police force. Fine by me. Obviously, very little has changed in the intervening 40 years! In fact it's probably worse. Despite a certain amount of radiation contamination where I live now in Japan, I still feel 'safer' here.

Thanks for your own perspective. Not having read the articles, I will have to reserve my judgement on them for now, but for reasons, I will give below, I will remain very wary of anything found on the pages of CounterPunch.

People need to understand that CounterPunch has played a shameful role in covering up the evidence which disproves the Bush administration's account of the 9/11 FalseFlag terrorist attack, which was used as a pretext for the United States' invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, its "Global War on Terror" and attacks on the political and civil rights of US citizens including the passage of the Patriot Act[1] on 26 October 2001 only 45 days after September 11. Consequently CounterPunch has been named by Canadian Malthusian and truth activist BarrieZwicker, who narrated The End of Suburbia, as a fake left wing publication.

This is not to say that nothing published CounterPunch has any worth. Indeed, much of it is worth reading, as, indeed, much of what is written in even the Murdoch Press is good journalism.

Still, I would be most wary of any claims of anything contained in any article written in CounterPunch. In the case of very contentious and vexed political questions, such as the riots in Britain, it would be very easy for their coverage by CounterPunch and other phony left publications to be turned to serve the powerful vested interests they claim to oppose.

Footnotes

1. [back] USA Patriot act, as it is officilly entitled, is an acronym for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act"